


The Departed AU

by NerdyNostalgia



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alaric dies, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caroline saves Klaus, Death occurs in the background, Elena dies but wakes up in transition, Emotional Confusion, Esther gets away, F/M, Grief, Klaus comforts Caroline, Loss, Love Triangles, TVD 3x22 AU, implicit death, inner turmoil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 12:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30105822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyNostalgia/pseuds/NerdyNostalgia
Summary: Caroline isn't willing to take the chance that she and her friends aren't part of Klaus' bloodline and so helps him, despite knowing how badly her friends would take it. However when she later learns that Elena has died she seeks out comfort from an unlikely source when Tyler leaves and ignores her calls.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes/Tyler Lockwood
Kudos: 21





	The Departed AU

Caroline kept looking back over her shoulder as she made her way through the storage facility. Every bang, every noise made her jump and freeze. She knew she shouldn’t be here. She knew this was wrong. She knew that she was betraying her friends by doing this but she had no other idea of what to do.

Ever since she had returned home from Alaric’s attack something she had overheard had stuck with her and she wanted answers. She knew that Klaus would be the only one to try and give them to her. She also knew that she couldn’t risk Tyler’s life, nor her own or her friend’s, with the very real possibility that Alaric planned to kill the hybrid.

Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, she looked back over her shoulder one last time before turning her attention to the open storage in front of her. It was hard to miss the coffin that lay to the side and she stepped towards it. She wondered if Klaus could sense her but she quickly shook her head, shaking the thought away. The top half of the coffin lid was open and she hesitantly walked towards it. Looking inside she gasped when she saw him. The grey, green colour of his skin, the sunken cheeks, the chains around him, all of it was grotesque and she swallowed loudly. She jumped and gasped loudly when his eyes suddenly opened. She manoeuvred the bag from her shoulder, to the floor and stepped closer, feeling increasingly unnerved as Klaus stared at her. She put her hand on the edge of the coffin and stared down at him.

“Look, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for Tyler and the rest of us. If we really are from your bloodline then we can’t risk you dying, no matter how much of a pain you are. My friends may be willing to take that risk, but I’m not. So you can thank me for this by leaving Mystic Falls.” She whispered.

Klaus merely blinked at her as she leaned down and opened the bag. She pulled out a few blood bags and stood up, “Don’t make me regret this.”

She then tore open the bags and poured the blood into his mouth. Slowly the colour returned to his skin and his cheeks filled out and he began to look alive again. It didn’t take long for all the blood bags to be drained. Caroline put the empty blood bags back into her bag and she picked up the bag and swung it over her shoulder.

“Mind helping me out, love.” Klaus said, looking down at the chains around him.

Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes before pulling at the chains at the same time Klaus pushed at them. It hurt to touch them but between the two of them the chains were eventually broken and Klaus sat up before climbing out of the coffin.

“Thank you love.”

Caroline looked at him before nodding slowly. The atmosphere became awkward but Caroline shook her head and stepped towards Klaus. She poked at his chest, “I mean it Klaus, don’t make me regret this. The others may not, but I do believe you when you say that we’re part of your bloodline. This is a big risk I’m taking and the others can’t find out so you owe me for this.”

Klaus put his hands up, “Of course love. No-one will know but the two of us.”

“I’m serious Klaus. I’m only doing this because we need you alive. Your mother is a big threat and we need to get rid of her.”

He nodded and put his arms down. Thinking about all that had occurred in the last twenty-four hours he tried to think of a way to defeat his mother. Then it dawned on him…

“That witch!” He growled, causing Caroline to take a step back.

“What is it?” She asked, with a tremor in her voice.

“Something that Alaric said back at the high school. He said that his life was tied to Elena. Of course my mother would have done this. One last way to spite me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Stefan and I tried to stake Alaric back at the high school but it didn’t work. He mentioned the doppleganger but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. He insinuated the two were connected somehow.”

“I don’t get it. Klaus, just say what you’re thinking…”

As she finished the sentence it dawned on her what he was talking about and her eyes widened at the implication. She couldn’t believe that Esther could be so cruel, “Alaric can only die if Elena does. As long as she’s alive so is he.”

Klaus nodded, a look of fury on his face. Caroline was devastated by the news. The only way to deal with Alaric is to kill Elena. She knew now why Klaus was so angry. He relied on Elena’s blood to make hybrids and so with Elena dead, he couldn’t do that anymore. Her heart broke for her friend. There was no way that they were going to be okay with Elena dying, they had done so much to keep her alive, but now everyone was in danger as long as she lived. She put her hands to her head and began to pace.

“This can’t be happening.” She kept repeating as she paced.

Klaus’ anger dissipated a little seeing the distress that the blonde vampire was in. He took a step towards her and she turned on her and pointed at him.

“No! No! You stay where you are. This is, this is too much. What the hell do we do now? How the hell do we deal with this?” She was almost frantic in his distress.

“Love, we’ll figure something out. I need Elena alive as much as you want your friend to live.”

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him, glaring, “Not helping.”

He shrugged but the two were interrupted by a banging coming from somewhere in the storage facility. Carline looked panicked as she quickly shut the lid of the coffin and turned to Klaus, “I was never here.”

She then raced away. Klaus smiled at the blonde beauty before leaving himself.

* * *

Footsteps grew closer to the storage facility. There were at least two pairs as the individuals raced towards the coffin. The footsteps stopped upon seeing the storage space open.

“What the hell is this?” Rebekah said as she stepped forward and looked around the area.

Damon shushed her and the two wheeled the coffin out of storage. They closed the sliding door and made it look as if it hadn’t been messed with. They then wheeled the coffin into the loading bay as quickly as they could while also trying to be quiet. They didn’t get far however when Rebekah was thrown back before being slammed into the hearse. Damon was then thrown back as well. The two shook their heads and looked up, both surprised and unsurprised to see Alaric stood by the coffin.

“NO!” Rebekah screamed as she realised what Alaric was about to do.

Damon got up and grabbed Rebekah to prevent her from getting in Alaric’s way. She struggled against his grip but due to her distress she couldn’t get out of his grip. Her attention purely on the fate of her brother. Alaric pulled out the white oak stake and opened the coffin. He stopped when he saw it was empty and with a look of fury on his face he turned to Damon and Rebekah.

“Where is he?!” He yelled. The two stopped and stared at Alaric.

“Where is he?!” He yelled again.

He grabbed Rebekah and yanked her towards him. He pulled her to the coffin and she gasped, seeing it empty. It was nothing but chains inside.

“I don’t understand, what...where...I don’t get it.” She tried to articulate an answer but none came to mind.

Alaric repeated his question pushing Rebekah further against the coffin’s edge.

“I don’t know!” Rebekah yelled, praying that he didn’t use the white oak stake on her.

Damon used the distraction to rush at Alaric and briefly disorientate him, giving him enough time to snap his neck. Rebekah looked back at him shocked but thankful.

“We need to figure out what the hell happened here.” Damon said, “But first we need to get out of here.”

Rebekah nodded and followed Damon out of the storage facility. Once they were far enough away that they felt safe. Rebekah pulled out her phone and messaged her brothers. She then left Damon and headed to a rendezvous point she had pointed out in her message.

Her brothers were already there when she arrived.

“Care to tell us what is going on, sister?” Kol asked as she approached.

“Klaus is gone.” She replied.

“Gone? What exactly do you mean?” Elijah asked.

“The coffin was empty. Alaric found where we were hiding Nik and Damon and I tried to get him out. Alaric caught up to us and when he went to kill him, Nik was gone.” Rebekah replied.

“How is that possible?” Kol asked.

Rebekah shrugged, “No idea, but we need to find him and find out what happened.”

The two brothers nodded as they thought of what to do. They couldn’t go back to their home as that would be the first place Alaric would look for them. So what did they do, and where did they go?

* * *

Caroline made it back in one piece and her nerves meant that she couldn’t sit still. She stress cleaned her room and the guilt of having woken Klaus up sat heavily in her gut. She still couldn’t believe that she had betrayed her friend’s in such a way but she knew that Klaus needed to live or else the rest of them would die. She also had another problem. How was she going to tell her friends about her new realisation about Elena and Alaric?

She threw the empty blood bags away and cleaned her bag. Her phone then buzzed and caught her attention, pausing her cleaning. She reached for it and it was Damon, revealing to everyone that Klaus was missing and that Alaric was still on the prowl. Immediately her phone came to life as everyone was reacting. She sent the obligatory ‘WHAT?!” in response but she felt so bad.

She decided that she needed to get out of the house. She headed over to where she knew Tyler would be and hugged him upon entering the cave.

“Caroline what’s wrong?” He asked as he pulled away.

“Klaus is gone.”

“What?”

“Alaric attacked him but he wasn’t in the coffin. No-one knows where he is or what happened.”

Tyler pulled away from her completely and turned his back to her. She didn’t know what to do. She waited as he began to pace.

“He has to be found.”

“What?” Caroline was shocked at that.

“Klaus has to be found.”

She took a step towards him, “Tyler, if Klaus is gone isn’t that a good thing? I mean, Alaric has the Originals on the run so it’s not like they’re going to be a problem in Mystic Falls for much longer.”

“No, you don’t get it. If Klaus is out there we’ll never be safe. We need to take him down.” He explained.

“But he’s gone.”

Caroline was getting frustrated. Why couldn’t Tyler see a good thing when it was right in front of him? How could he still want to go after Klaus? Crossing her arms, she frowned at Tyler.

“Tyler, if Klaus dies, you die. I’m not willing to risk that. Let him leave and cause chaos somewhere else. At least he’ll be out of our lives.”

“But we’ll never be free of him. The hybrids are still bound to him. They, I need to be free of him and that won’t happen while he’s out there.”

Caroline couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Without another word Tyler walked passed her and out of the cave, leaving her behind. She let her arms drop and she stared unbelieving after him. What had just happened?

She followed him outside but in the few seconds it had taken her to follow, he had disappeared. She ran her hands through her hair, scoffed and decided to return home. This day had already been too much for her and right now all she wanted was a bath.

She sped home and as she put her hand on the door handle, she felt her phone buzz once again. Hoping that it was Tyler she pulled out her phone. She entered her house and read the message. She scoffed once again and rolled her eyes.

It was there were two message from Klaus; ‘ _Trouble in paradise?_ ’ and ‘ _Thank you again, love._ ’

She stormed up to her room and threw her phone on the bed and prepared a bath. She wasn’t going to deal with Klaus’ nonsense anymore. He was leaving, hopefully taking his siblings with him, and she wouldn’t have to think about him anymore. She began to prepare for a relaxing evening when her phone once again began to buzz. She rolled her eyes, expecting it to be Klaus but hoping it was Tyler, and picked up the phone. She was shocked to see Stefan’s name on her screen.

She answered the call, “Stefan? What’s going on?”

“She’s gone Caroline.” He sounded so upset that it immediately told her something was wrong.

“Who?”

“Elena.”

Caroline was stunned. What did he mean she was gone? Had Klaus taken her and fled?

“What do you mean gone?”

“She’s dead.”

Caroline fell onto the bed and put her hand over her mouth. Tears began to build as the news registered but it didn’t seem real, “How?”

“She and Matt ran off the road as they crossed the bridge. We don’t know what caused it yet. We’ll have to talk to Matt but he’s in the hospital.”

“Oh my God.” Caroline’s voice was quiet as she took in the tragic news.

“I got there just after the truck went into the lake. Elena refused to be saved until I saved Matt. I got him out and left him on the bank before diving back in...but I wasn’t quick enough, I wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t...I didn’t…”

“I’m sorry Stefan.” 

She felt mixed thoughts about it. She was sad that Elena was dead but glad that Matt was okay, even if he was in hospital. She had no idea what to do but she felt like she couldn’t do nothing.

“What can I do?” She asked, feeling the need to be useful.

He sighed on the other end of the phone, “No.”

“Okay. Just let me know how and when I can help.”

“Thanks Caroline.”

“Be safe Stefan.”

The call ended and she sat in stunned silence, her bath now forgotten. She couldn’t believe that Elena was dead. After all they had been through to keep her safe and alive, and in the end it was a car crash that took her life. Tears fell down her cheeks as she grieved for her friend. She picked up her phone again and called Tyler. It went straight to voicemail.

She left a rambling message telling him the news and wishing he was there. Right now all she wanted was to have someone hold her and comfort her. The call ended and it wasn’t two minutes before she tried to call him again. Once again it went to voicemail. After the fifth attempt she threw her phone onto the bed in frustration. What could he possibly be doing that meant he couldn’t pick up the phone?

She ran her hands over her face as she tried to quell her tears before deciding to get under the covers. Her phone was paced on the bedside table and she curled up under the covers and sobbed. By the time she stopped crying she was sure her eyes were puffy. She checked her phone and saw over an hour had passed. She threw the phone back onto the bedside table when she saw that Tyler still hadn’t gotten back to her. 

She laid on her back and stared at the ceiling. She looked back to her phone and a dangerous thought entered her head. She knew she shouldn’t do it, she knew it was wrong, but right now she didn’t want to be alone and she knew that they needed to know. Taking a deep breath she picked up her phone and simply stared at it. Her fingers hesitated over his name and she took another deep breath before taking the plunge and pressing call.

It didn’t take long for him to answer, “Hello, love.”

“Klaus.”

He immediately knew something was wrong, “What happened, love?”

“Elena’s dead. She and Matt crashed into the lake. We don’t know what caused it but Stefan didn’t get to her in time.” By the end she was crying again.

“Where are you, love?”

“At home.”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes.” 

She wasn’t sure where he was going with this when she heard a knock on her door. She put down her phone, but kept it in her hands, and went downstairs. She gasped when she saw Klaus through the glass. She opened the door and he stepped inside. 

“Tell me everything.” He said as the two made their way to Caroline’s room. 

She closed the door behind him, not wanting anyone to catch them together. Klaus sat on her bed and she joined him after she drew the curtains. She kept her eyes to the ground as she spoke, “I told you everything already. The only other thing was that Elena had demanded Matt be saved which meant she remained stuck under the water. Matt’s now in hospital.”

Klaus took in a deep breath and Caroline could tell that he was angry. His chance of making more hybrids was now gone. She lifted her head to look at him, “Klaus?”

“Your friend will have to be questioned about what caused them to run off of the road.”

“I know, but tomorrow.” 

With that Caroline began to cry again as she thought of the possibility of losing two friends that night. Klaus turned to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She fell into his chest and continued to cry. His other hand came up to cradle her head as he held her in his arms. The only sounds in the room were Caroline’s sobs. Neither knew how long they sat there. Eventually Caroline’s tears dried up but she was too exhausted to move. Today had been far too draining. Right now she just wanted to sleep, even if it was in Klaus’ arms but her mind was far too loud for actual sleep. Instead Klaus manoeuvred them so that he was sat against the headboard and Caroline rested on his chest. Neither spoke, both felt that if they did whatever spell the room was under would break.

They were interrupted by Caroline’s phone going off once again. She sat up, wiped her eyes and grabbed her phone. It was Stefan again.

“Stefan?”

“Caroline, I can’t believe it!”

“What? What does?”

“It’s Elena. She woke up.”

“But I thought you said she died.”

“She did, but she woke up in the morgue.”

“She’s transitioning?” Caroline couldn’t help but look at Klaus as she questioned Stefan. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. From the way that Klaus was now sat up, he was hearing the conversation as well.

“She is. I don’t know when the vampire blood got into her system but she’s transitioning. Damon took her back to the house.”

Caroline nodded and paused before saying, “Stefan…”

“I know Caroline. This is what she wanted, what any of us wanted.”

“She needs to be the one to make the choice Stefan. Just be there for her when she makes that choice.”

“Yeah…” With that he ended the call.

She turned back to Klaus, “I assume it heard all that.”

“I did, love.”

“I can’t believe she’s in transition.”

“At least she’s alive.”

She ran a hand over her face and sighed, “God, I hope they actually let Elena make the decision whether she’ll turn or not.”

“You think they won’t?”

“You know how Stefan and Damon are. If it means Elena is alive either one of them may give her no choice. I know that Stefan would resist until the last minute, and I want to think better of him, but its something I can see them doing.”

Klaus rose from the bed and Caroline followed. She walked around the bed and came to a stop in front of him.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you now love. I need to inform my siblings of this development.”

“You found them then.”

“Yes. It wasn’t difficult.”

There was a pause in the conversation when Caroline remembered the conversation that the two of them had had in the storage facility, “Klaus! This means that Alaric…?”

“...is most likely dead, yes.”

“What about your mother?”

“We’ll find her. She can’t hide forever.”

“What about..?”

“She’ll go lick her wounds and then return. I’m sure she’s already working on another scheme. We’ll find her and end her, just as I did my father.”

Caroline nodded. God, the Originals were one hell of a messed up family.

“I should get to the hospital and check on Matt, before heading over to the Boarding House to see Elena.”

Klaus nodded. Silence stretched out between the two for a moment before Klaus leaned down and kissed Caroline on the cheek, “Goodbye, love.”

With that he was gone. Caroline was shocked. What did she do to that?

She put her hand up to her cheek and she could feel herself swooning. She was so confused. She groaned before heading to the bathroom to wash her face. She splashed water on her face and looked in the mirror. The puffiness of her eyes was going away but it hid the inner turmoil she felt.

God, why did she have to be the one to get into a love triangle? Dealing with the one Elena was in was bad enough, now she had her own to contend with.

She thought about Tyler. She loved him with her whole heart, but she was angry at him. He had left her to do...what she didn’t know. He had ignored her calls when she had needed him. He had essentially abandoned her. She hated it, she hated how she was being treated but she loved him and she knew that they were good together. She wasn’t willing to give up on him.

But then there was Klaus. She couldn’t believe she had actually saved him. She justified that it was for selfish reasons as she wanted to live and he needed to be alive for that. Then there was the fact that he had come running to her side when she had called. Even though he was supposed to be hiding, he’d still made time for her. But how could she have accepted that comfort? Klaus was the Big Bad. He had tormented her and her friends. He had killed Elena’s aunt Jenna.

She was so confused.

Splashing water on her face one last time she dried her face and then shook her head. She was going to push away any thoughts of Klaus and focus on the situation that was happening. She needed to focus on Matt and Elena and the fact that Elena was now in transition. She couldn’t think about her own troubles. That was an issue she could tackle tomorrow.


End file.
